six strikes

AT&T says don't worry, it's just progressive education

16 September 2013 by Steve Blum
, , ,

It only gets worse from here.

The first violation letters under the Copyright Alert System have been sent out by AT&T, according to a post on the TorrentFreak blog. That’s apparently the first of the six strikes allowed under the program, which has been adopted by major telephone and cable companies, in collaboration with music and movie companies, to fight piracy.

You get strike each time a major ISP receives a complaint about you downloading pirated videos or music.… More

Telecoms privacy, or lack thereof, is a choice you've already made

8 June 2013 by Steve Blum
,

You’re gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.

What we’ve seen over the past week might be news, but it’s not new. Telecoms and information service providers are in an ever tightening squeeze, as public and private interests use congressional influence to access customer information for their own ends.

It’s still not clear just how enthusiastically Google, Facebook, Verizon, AT&T and others have cooperated with federal spying efforts. So far, when companies have commented, it’s been along the lines of “we’re only doing what we’re required by law to do, and nothing more.”… More

Collateral damage could kill hotspots


Toll barrier coming down on free range WiFi.

Free public WiFi access might be an unintended casualty of the imminent onslaught of the Copyright Alert System, otherwise known as the Six Strikes rule. I say “might” because I’m not completely sure that the damage will be unintentional. There’s no doubt there will be damage.

This joint effort by major U.S. ISPs and the recording and movie industry associations is a monitoring program that watches Internet traffic for illegal downloading activity.… More